Samsung's chip foundry clients will soon have to pay considerably more for the company's services. According to Bloomberg, the tech giant is already in talks with its clients about charging around 15 to 20 percent more to manufacture their chips, depending on how sophisticated their products are. Samsung is only the latest company in the industry to raise its prices in an effort to keep up with the growing costs of procuring materials in the midst of the global supply chain crisis.
Bloomberg says companies that need chips manufactured on legacy nodes would be facing the biggest price hike, which will be applied sometime in the second half of this year. Apparently, Samsung is already done negotiating with some of its clients, but it's still currently in discussion with others. Samsung's foundry business achieved its highest ever first quarter sales for the first three months of 2022. While the company is optimistic about its future, it's also expecting the global component shortage to continue having an impact on its business. Manufacturing costs are rising by up to an average of 30 percent, as well, which means foundry businesses have to charge more to make a profit. Rival foundries like TSMC's already raised prices by 20 percent last year and will charge even more in 2023.
Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Masahiro Wakasugi said: "This is an inevitable move for Samsung. Some customers may accept higher prices if they can get chips earlier than others."
Seeing as Samsung has cutting-edge gear its competitors don't have and other foundries are raising prices anyway, its clients will most likely agree to pay its new prices. And since the price hike affects the whole industry, we can likely expect to pay more for cars, smartphones, consoles and other devices in the future.
OnePlus fans have the chance to get the company's latest flagship plus an extra perk from Amazon today. The online retailer includes a $100 gift card when you buy a OnePlus 10 Pro, so while you're not getting a discount on the handset itself, you are getting an extra $100 to use on future purchases. If you'd prefer to buy directly from OnePlus, you'll find a different promotion there: today only, you can get a free OnePlus Watch with the purchase of a 10 Pro. That's actually a bigger discount of sorts since the Watch costs $159, but considering the many drawbacks to OnePlus' wearable, you may be better off going with Amazon's gift card option.
The OnePlus 10 Pro earned a score of 79 from us mostly because we found it to be very similar to last year's OnePlus 9 Pro. That's not a bad thing, but we were anticipating more big improvements from this generation. You're getting a 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED LTPO display on the 10 Pro along with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, an upgraded selfie camera and triple rear camera array that includes a 48-megapixel primary sensor, an ultra-wide lens and a telephoto camera.
The 120Hz screen is gorgeous and its adaptive brightness feature learns your preferences over time and can make adjustments before you need to do so manually. The handset handled everything we threw at it well and it has Oppo's HyperBoost game engine, which boosts the touchscreen's responsiveness while helping to stabilize frame rates during gaming sessions. We also appreciate its speedy fingerprint and face unlock features.
But arguably the standout feature of the OnePlus 10 Pro is its fast-charging capabilities. The phone supports 80W SUPERVOOC charging, which allows it to fully power up in only 32 minutes. However, US users won't get this feature because 110 or 120-volt AC power, the standards in the US, don't support 80W SUPERVOOC charging. US users will get 65W SUPERVOOC charging instead, which remains the fastest standard available in the States, but still it's a bit of a bummer when 80W is available in other regions.
The biggest drawback of the OnePus 10 Pro is its 8MP telephoto camera. The other two rear cameras take lovely, detailed photos, but those taken by the telephoto lens are blurry and low-detail. If you're looking for an upgrade in your next phone's camera, the 10 Pro may not be the best choice — especially when you can get Google's Pixel 6 Pro for the same price, or even the forthcoming Pixel 6a in a few months for much less. But if you're a big fan of the OnePlus brand and OxygenOS, these flash sales are a good opportunity to grab the latest from the company and get something extra on top of it.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
The iPod's death has been a long time coming. Somehow, it's already been eight years since Apple discontinued the iconic iPod classic. Nonetheless, the news this week that Apple is discontinuing its last iPod, the touch is significant: This officially marks the official end of a product that set up the company for two decades of success.
A lot has been written about how the iPod changed Apple's fortunes, transforming the company from an influential but niche computer maker into one of the biggest companies in the world. Similarly, the iPod's effect on the music industry almost speaks for itself at this point. The device slowly but surely ended the reign of the CD and moved people to a world in which they could just buy a handful of songs from an album instead of paying $15 for the whole thing on a plastic disc.
That's probably why the death of the iPod brand doesn't feel all that notable, despite the fact that I was an iPod early adopter who quickly went all-in on Apple's ecosystem. It was inevitable that Apple would eventually stop selling the iPod touch, just as the end of the iPod classic in 2014 felt overdue.
That's probably because both the consumer technology and the music industries have long since moved on from the iPod. It's not hyperbolic to say that the iPod reversed both Apple's fortunes and the record industry’s — but we've since seen another seismic shift that made the iPod feel almost as quaint as the CD.
The iPod was responsible for several major changes in the way music is consumed. In the 2000s, CD sales began to fall as more and more people started buying music through digital storefronts like the iTunes Music Store. There, you could get an album for $10 or a single song for $1, a significant discount over CDs at the time. And while many people still purchased full albums, uncoupling songs from the record propelled custom mix CDs and playlists to the forefront of how people listened to music. The iPod and iTunes Store killed the romance (and burden) of a physical music library while giving listeners more freedom in how they bought and listened to music.
But in 2022, the music industry has undergone a second sea change. For many, the concept of owning music at all is obsolete. Spotify, Apple Music, and the like have fully moved us to a place where we pay for access — to a catalog of some 90 million songs — not ownership. The idea of the album is even less important now than it was during the iPod's peak, as the streaming services curated playlists for us, based on our listening histories and what's popular. Apple, Spotify, and their competitors are the de facto DJs now, guiding listeners to new music the way radio DJs did for decades.
A big part of Steve Jobs' pitch for the iTunes Store was that it was a response to piracy and a way for music creators to get paid. The thinking was that the store would offer a vastly improved experience over dealing with sketchy piracy apps so that people wouldn't mind paying a few bucks here and there to download songs, thus putting money back in artists' pockets.
In the streaming era, however, the debate over the fairness of music streaming payments to artists and songwriters rages on. While the iTunes Store was the first place Apple introduced its controversial 30 percent take, there’s been increasing furor in recent years over how Spotify carves up payments for artists into fractions of a cent per stream. Musicians have often made more money from touring and merchandise sales than album sales, and now that most people are streaming rather than buying music, that gulf has widened even more. (That’s without mentioning how much of a hit artists have taken on touring revenue since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.)
Just as the music industry has moved on since its iPod-fueled transformation in the 2000s, the consumer tech industry no longer resembles one in which the iPod was dominant. The iPod was conceived as a device that did one thing well: play back your music and podcast library. Sure, it picked up other features over the years (most notably displaying your photos and playing videos), but music was always its raison d’etre.
A number of other single-purpose devices flourished around the same time. Amazon introduced the first Kindle in 2007, digital cameras hit the mainstream in a big way throughout the decade and the Flip Video camera had a brief time in the spotlight, just to name a few. But the modern smartphone, which Apple itself ushered in with the iPhone, largely eliminated the need for a dedicated music player, not to mention most other purpose-built gadgets. We’re now 15 years into an era of convergence, where the smartphone is the most versatile and important device we carry.
It’s no coincidence that the last iPod Apple sold was the iPod touch, a device that is basically an iPhone without the phone. For years, it was a good option for kids or people who couldn’t afford an iPhone, but giving children a phone isn’t the taboo it once was, while monthly payment plans mean more people can afford them. It’s not clear who the iPod touch was for in 2022.
Apple may be pulling the plug on the iPod now, but the world moved on years ago. We’re past the point where those of us waxing nostalgic about the iPod can be considered youthful; if the rise of the iPad was a defining experience for you, you’re likely an elder millennial at best. I don’t say all this to downplay the iPod’s importance, though. On the contrary, looking back at how far we’ve come over the past 20 years reveals just how transformative the iPod was for music, and for tech.
This week, Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham joins Cherlynn and Devindra to dive into everything announced at Google I/O. There were plenty of new devices, of course, but Google also showed off how its improved AI tech is making maps, translation and more features even smarter. Also, Cherlynn discusses her exclusive feature on Microsoft’s Adaptive Mouse, as well as the company’s new Inclusive Tech Lab. And in other news, we bid farewell to the iPod and reminisce about the early days of MP3 players.
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Jessica Conditt Guest: Nathan Ingraham Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh
Starlink's internet service is now available in 32 countries around the world, the Elon Musk-owned company tweeted. Countries and regions marked on its map as "available," including parts of Australia, Brazil, Chile, the US, Canada and most of Europe, can have their equipment shipped "immediately." The service has steadily expanded since exiting beta last year, with availability in 12 countries as of September 2021 and 25 countries last February.
Starlink is now available in 32 countries around the world. People ordering from areas marked “available” will have their Starlink shipped immediately → https://t.co/slZbTmHdmlpic.twitter.com/CecM1pkf5D
Starlink's map shows areas marked as "available" (light blue), "wait list" (medium blue) and "coming soon" (dark blue). The service has a potential near-global reach at latitudes below around 60 degrees north, but availability is granted on a country-by-country basis.
The kits recently rose in price and now cost $549 for reservation holders or $599 for new orders, and include a satellite antenna dish, a stand, a power supply and a WiFi router. Service prices also shot up from $99 to $110 per month. Users can also now add a portability feature, letting them take the kit while traveling, for an additional $25 per month fee.
The company is primarily targeting remote regions that can't get connected otherwise, to start with. It offers very respectable speeds of 104.97/12.04 Mbps (download/upload) in the US as of Q4 2021, nearly up to fixed US internet speeds. In theory, speeds climb as the company adds more satellites and ground stations. Latency is slower than fixed broadband (40 compared to 14 milliseconds) but far better than other satellite options including HughesNet (729 milliseconds) and Viasat (627 milliseconds).
Starlink has not been without controversy. Astronomers have complained that the thousands of satellites in its constellation have interfered with Earth telescope observations, and the company recently lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm. In addition, Starlink's license to operate in France was temporarily cancelled by the nation's regulator ARCEP, with a final decision expected soon.
Google isn't just showering affection on Android phones and tablets at I/O 2022. The company has detailed updates for Android 13 on TV, including one for living room multitaskers. On top of already announced plans to support casting from Android to Google TV, Google has revealed that Android TV will expand picture-in-picture viewing to show group call videos, add a docked mode and prevent chats from hiding content in other apps. You could catch up with family on a camera-equipped TV without blocking your web browser.
The future Android TV release will also support different keyboard layouts. That could be helpful for game developers who need to map input to non-QWERTY physical keyboards, Google said. You should also expect performance and quality boosts thanks to improved audio routing and HDMI responses.
Developers can grab Android 13 TV beta 2 today for either Google's ADT-3 kit or a computer-based emulator. You'll likely have to wait until later in the year for the finished Android TV update to arrive. As with Android 13 on mobile devices, this isn't a major overhaul — it's more of a refinement to help keep up with modern expectations.
The rumors were (mostly) true. Sony did indeed have a follow-up to its stellar WH-1000XM4 ready for a proper debut. Today the company announced the WH-1000XM5 ($400), its latest flagship noise-canceling headphones equipped with all of the things we’ve come to expect from Sony’s 1000X line. This time around the company gave its premium cans a big exterior redesign. In the process, it massively increased comfort while also expanding the incredible performance in terms of noise cancelation and overall sound quality.
Design
One of the biggest changes for the 1000XM5 is the design. Sony slimmed down the headband while keeping the underside soft and cushiony. My only gripe with the new look is that you can see where the housing for the adjustable arms ends and the softer padding begins. You only see it when you take the headphones off, but it’s noticeable.
Sony also connects the headband to the ear cups in one spot on the M5, rather than the U-shaped bracket that mounted to the M4 in two places. There’s still plenty of swivel and rotation for the ear cups, so there’s no sacrifice to movement. In fact, I’d argue these changes give this new 1000X a more modern look, than all of the previous models. The lineup has a similar design up through the M4, so Sony was overdue for a big overhaul.
Despite only being four grams or 0.14 ounces lighter than the WH-1000XM4, this new version feels like it weighs a lot less when you put them on. The weight distribution is better, plus the synthetic leather ear cups are quite cushiony. I had no problem wearing these for hours at a time and at no point did I feel pressure around my ears or on the top of my head.
Billy Steele/Engadget
The outside panel of the right ear cup still houses the touch controls. Here you can play/pause with a double tap, skip tracks with a horizontal swipe or swipe vertically to adjust volume. Tap and hold summons your voice assistant and when you get a call, simply double tap to answer. All of those touch controls work well too, reliably accepting taps and swipes without error. On the edge of the left ear cup, there are physical buttons for power and noise cancellation. The former can also put the headphones in pairing mode and give you a battery level update while the latter cycles through a combination of ANC, ambient sound and off.
Software
As is the case with most of Sony’s earbuds and headphones, the Headphones Connect app is where you tweak settings and enable a host features. When you fire up the software, a battery life percentage is prominently displayed on the right side, with tabs for Status, Sound, System and Services just below. The first, Status, gives you access to the finer details of Adaptive Sound Control or Sony’s handy automatic switching of noise canceling settings based on activity or location.
Of course, if you choose to have things change based on where you are, you’ll have to give the app permission to track your whereabouts. If you do, you can set the M5 to automatically enable ambient sound when you’re at the office, for example. Adaptive Sound Control can also be configured to change the EQ and enable/disable Speak-to-Chat for a particular location or activity.
Billy Steele/Engadget
The Status panel will also allow you to see which devices are currently connected since the M5 allows you to link up to two simultaneously. And lastly there’s a media player here, which I’ve never touched across several reviews. The Sound tab gives you access to Ambient Sound Control, the ability to enable/disable Speak-to-Chat, the equalizer and audio presets. If you recall, Speak-to-Chat automatically pauses the audio and activates ambient sound when it detects that you’re speaking. In my experience, it could sometimes be fooled by coughs, but that’s not the case anymore. You can also configure the headphones for 360 Reality audio, in addition to switching Bluetooth connection quality and employing DSEE Extreme. That latter uses AI to reproduce the frequency response that’s typically lost to compression.
System is where you can enable multipoint connectivity, change voice assistants, disable the touch control panel and add functionality to the noise canceling button. You can also opt for that last control to activate Spotify Tap with either a double or triple press. And last but not least, Services is where you connect various apps for easy access. If you want to use Spotify Tap, for example, you’ll need to sync it with Headphones Connect here.
Sound quality
Billy Steele/Engadget
Sound quality has never been an issue with the 1000X line, and it’s definitely not on the M5. In fact, it’s yet another thing Sony upgraded on these headphones. New 30mm carbon fiber drivers handle the audio, including tracks in LDAC and DSEE Extreme. I thought the M4 was well-tuned for a range of genres, but the bass seems punchier here. Whether it’s the electronic collisions of The Glitch Mob, the grungy blues of Jack White or the driving bass in Kendrick Lamar’s catalog, the lower range is both pleasant and powerful, expanding the overall soundstage.
The difference between the M4 and the M5 is in the finer details. There’s more depth, making everything seem more immersive. But there’s also more clarity, so the subtleties can shine. I’m talking about things like the texture of someone strumming an acoustic guitar or Jack White’s iconic distortion soaring above the other instruments. Everything is still balanced, and the bass only provides the proper amount of oomph. Switch over to something entirely acoustic like bluegrass and the bass remains in check so the picking, and the highs, can cut through unhindered.
What’s more, activating DSEE Extreme doesn’t make a huge difference in the sound quality. On other Sony devices, that algorithm’s ability to recover some of the detail lost to compression makes a noticeable impact. On the M5, the results are subtle, and on some songs I had a hard time picking up on any change at all. It’s quite impressive.
I only have one complaint about sound quality, and it may actually be a Bluetooth issue rather than a true audio problem. When listening to music or watching a video on my MacBook Pro, I would occasionally experience quick dropouts or skips. It didn’t happen often and, oddly, I never heard it when playing something on my iPhone. The audio stutters a bit just for a second, like you’re watching a video on a bad internet connection, and then it continues. I tested both WH-1000XM5 units sent to me and noticed the issue on both. I’ve reached out to Sony for more info on the potential cause.
Active noise cancellation
Sony had already developed highly effective noise cancellation for its 1000X line and automated it so the feature could change based on your activity or location (Adaptive Sound Control). Those automatic tweaks are still in play on the M5, but the company has taken its overall noise-blocking setup a step further. First, it doubled both the number of processors and the number of microphones that handle noise canceling duties. In addition to the QN1 that was inside the M4, Sony also employs a separate V1 chip to lend a hand. There are now eight total ANC mics, up from four on the previous model. Plus, there’s an automatic noise canceling optimizer that ensures peak performance based on wear and your environment.
So, what does all of that mean when you’re actually wearing the headphones? Well, Sony says the entire setup is much better at blocking higher frequencies than the WH-1000XM4, which covers things like human voices. Indeed, the M5 is more effective at silencing nearby chatter and TV noise. It’s not entirely effective at combating baby screams (I have a 15-month-old at home), but most speech and what I’d consider a normal television volume went unnoticed. That makes the ANC on the 1000XM5 a clear upgrade over the M4.
Call quality
Despite working just fine for calls, the WH-1000XM4 isn’t equipped with dedicated voice microphones. Sony installed four beamforming mics on the M5, which it says helps this new model deliver the best call quality yet for the 1000X series. Those components work alongside AI-driven noise reduction to make this happen. Companies make lofty claims about voice quality all the time and it rarely pans out, but Sony actually delivers.
Both video and audio calls are crisp and clear, as your voice sounds noticeably better than other earbuds and headphones. With most of the competition, you typically sound like you’re on speakerphone at best. It’s much better than that on the M5, and the headphones do a great job handling background noise too. Constant roaring from a sound machine is easily silenced and things like voices, music or a nearby television are also reduced.
Battery life
Billy Steele/Engadget
Unfortunately, one rumor that didn’t pan out is the 1000XM5’s battery life. Reports indicated that Sony had added another 10 hours on top of its already 30-hour listening time. That’s not the case, you’ll still only get 30 hours of use with active noise cancellation. Sony did upgrade things when it comes to the quick charge feature. Instead of 10 minutes for five hours of use like on the M4, you get three hours of playback in three minutes.
After just over 21 hours of testing, Sony’s app read 38 percent battery remaining, so I’m pacing slightly ahead of the promised figure. The battery percentage in the macOS Bluetooth menu confirmed the status at that point too. During my tests, I had active noise cancellation turned on and did a mix of music streaming, video live streams, video calls and turning the headphones off a few times. Even though more is always better, 30 hours is plenty on the M5 and it’s enough to get you through a few work days or an international trip that includes long flights.
The competition
When it comes to alternatives, Bose immediately comes to mind. The company offers the pricey 700 which does an excellent job blocking noise although the overall sound quality isn’t as good as what Sony has conjured. The 700 is slightly cheaper at $379, but if you’re looking to save even more money, the QuietComfort 45 is a great choice. Bose updated its classic QC headphones last year with improved ANC and longer battery life, among other things. Plus, that model is $329. Neither of these beat Sony when it comes to the complete package that is the 1000XM5, but they’re worthy alternatives nonetheless.
If you’ve read this far and think the previous 1000X model seems more compelling, you’re in luck. Sony is keeping the WH-1000XM4 around for the time being. It will still be $350, unless you find it on sale, saving you $50 over the cost of the brand new version. Indeed, those headphones have been our top pick since their debut. And even though they’re likely to be dethroned in our next buyers’ guide update, they’re still very good headphones and won’t be obsolete anytime soon.
Wrap-up
Billy Steele/Engadget
The WH-1000XM5 is evidence that even the best product in a given category still has room for improvement. Sony has consistently impressed us with its 1000X line, but the upgrades it delivers on the M5 are some of the biggest in the history of the series. It managed to make its sound even better while blocking more noise than it has before. Plus, there’s a new look that isn’t only an aesthetic improvement but is more comfortable too. The only gripe is the price, which is $50 more than the previous model at $400. But when considering the entirety of what you’re getting, the cost is perfectly reasonable. Sony was already on top, but with the WH-1000XM5, the company put even more distance between itself and the rest of the pack.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 will be available in black and silver color options for $400. Pre-orders from the company’s website, Amazon and Best Buy begin on May 20th.
Detailed as part of Google's "What's New with Android for Cars" session, the most important upcoming change is a refreshed UI for Android Auto focused on making it easier to navigate, control media and communicate with others while driving. To accommodate the larger displays in new cars, the company is making split screen view standard across all devices so that you can see directions, music and texts all at the same time. That means you'll be able to quickly pause a song or see a new message without having to navigate through a bunch of menus and settings.
Google
On top of that, Google is also improving support for adaptive layouts that can more easily adjust to the growing variety of displays in new cars. So regardless of if you have a sweeping extra-wide display on your dash or a tall portrait-orientated screen, the Android Auto UI can still show all your pertinent info. Meanwhile, to improve hands-free controls, the Google Assistant is better contextual suggestions for things like returning missed calls, texting arrival times and more.
Google
Finally, for owners of cars with systems based on Android Automotive (such as new vehicles from Ford, Volvo and others), Google is expanding your in-car entertainment options with wider support for video streaming apps. Earlier this year at CES, Google announced the ability to stream clips from YouTube, and now the Tubi TV and Epix Now apps will be added soon. Just remember, you can only watch videos while the car is parked, so don't try to stream and drive. And in the future, the company says it also has plans to let passengers stream content from their phones to their vehicle's built-in display, though there isn't a concrete timeline for when that will be available yet.
Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2022 right here!
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has provided a first proper look at the company's next mixed-reality headset, codenamed Project Cambria, in action. The "high-end headset" is scheduled for release later this year and it will support a new augmented reality experience called The World Beyond.
We see Zuckerberg playing with and petting a virtual creature that's superimposed onto the real world. The clip also shows a user in front of a virtual workstation before looking down at a notepad and writing on it. Reports suggested that Cambria's image quality would allow users to clearly read text, and that seems to be the case.
In addition, the demo shows a virtual workout instructor who appears to be in the same space as the headset wearer. The World Beyond was built with Meta's Presence Platform, which is designed to help developers create mixed-reality experiences.
Project Cambria will support full-color passthrough. Its onboard cameras can seemingly provide wearers with a higher fidelity view of their surroundings for mixed-reality purposes than existing Quest headsets can offer. The World Beyond will be available on Quest soon through App Lab, though you won't be able to access the full-color passthrough experience just yet.
The new headset itself was blurred in the clip. However, it's not that hard to imagine roughly what it will look like, especially given the teaser Meta released last year. Project Cambria (or whatever it will actually be called) will reportedly cost over $799.
A recent report noted that Meta employees likened Project Cambria to a "laptop for the face," given that it's said to have similar specs to a Chromebook. It's believed Meta is planning to release a more advanced version of the Cambria headset in 2024 as well as two new Quest models over the next few years.
However, it seems Meta is scaling back some of its metaverse ambitions. On Wednesday, it was reported that the company is shutting down some projects at Reality Labs, the hardware and metaverse division that lost $10 billion last year, and putting others on hold. Meta is said to be hiring fewer staff than usual this year to reduce costs amid slowing revenue growth. Meanwhile, the company this week opened its first physical store for Reality Labs products.
There are many, many ways to play retro games today. Plenty of those options are handhelds. But you might be surprised at how many of these devices feel jury rigged, cheap or often both. Worse, there’s a mishmash of open-source emulators running on a variety of operating systems to deal with, and all of the hardware is different — in short, emulation is a bit of a wild west sometimes.
What’s more, even the better handhelds usually only emulate up to around the PS1/N64 era. If you’re a fan of the GameCube or PS2 libraries, for example, the venn diagram of handhelds powerful enough that are well made and reasonably priced is effectively three separate circles. Maybe not for much longer thanks to the Odin by Ayn.
Yep, I hadn’t heard of ‘em either, but in the retro gaming scene that’s not uncommon. The Odin was launched on Indiegogo and instantly drew a lot of attention. The premise is simple, to bring the aforementioned venn diagram together and make a more cohesive retro (and even modern game) handheld.
The Odin gets off to a good start by effectively mimicking the Switch Lite form factor. Though the Odin’s screen is a shade larger (5.9 inches compared to Nintendo’s 5.5) and, at FHD, higher resolution. Anecdotally, most people who’ve held both find the Odin more comfortable and even prefer the latter’s analog sticks and D-pad which is not bad for a company new to the space.
James Trew / Engadget
I’m personally a fan of how all the controls are laid out. The analogue sticks are far enough away to not interfere with the buttons/D-pad but close enough to allow for quick, comfortable switching between them. I also like that the sticks are a little shallower than on other controllers which means you don’t need to push as far to get the movement you need.
There are three different models of Odin available: Pro, Base and Lite. The Pro is the one we have been using and is, as the name suggests, the higher specification version. We’re not talking bleeding edge internals here, but with a Snapdragon 845 and an Adreno 635 doing the processing and graphics we’re looking at something similar to a high-end smartphone from a couple of years ago. Bear in mind that the Switch using an older chipset: It’s, as the saying goes, what you do with it that counts, right?
The differences between each model include battery size, SoC, storage, RAM and, of course, price. Here’s a cheat sheet for those interested:
Ayn Odin Lite
Ayn Odin Base
Ayn Odin Pro
Processor
MediaTek Dimensity D900
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
RAM/Storage
4GB/64GB
4GB/64GB
8GB/128GB
Battery capacity
5,000mAh
5,000mAh
6,000mAh
Price
$200
$240
$290
It’s worth noting that if you’re only worried about the storage, all Odin’s come with a microSD card slot so you can expand the available memory that way if you prefer. As for battery capacity, the 6,000 mAh model I tested was good for around six hours of play on systems like the PS2/GameCube and, given everyone seems to test this game, about half that time with something like Genshin Impact.
This puts the Odin in an interesting spot. You can certainly pick up a very good retro handheld/emulator for around $100, but likely it won’t be able to play nearly as many games from as many platforms. Alternatively, you could spend over $1,000 on something like the Aya Neo which likely trounces the Odin but then is also four times the cost. Then there’s the Steam Deck which is a whole other beast, but a viable alternative if you want to play non-retro games also. It’s also a shade pricier than the Odin, starting at $400, but obviously not a direct competitor. All to say, the handheld market is kind of all over the place.
The Odin runs on Android. If that induces an internal groan, we get it. Android and gaming have a complicated history. But arguably Android makes the most sense for a device like the Odin. Not least because the hardware is comparable to that in a high end phone, but Android is also well catered for in the retro world, with most of the emulators having mature ports. Oh, and Android does have good games of its own, so you can play those natively too.
As much as the Odin is aiming to feel like a complete console rather than a single-board PC in a box running apps, there’s a bit of a problem. It’s almost impossible to do it any other way without going full remake a-la Analogue. That said, setting up the Odin was about as painless as this process gets. Pick the emulators you want, install them, load up on games and you’re more or less good to go. Often the physical controls are either already mapped or just take a minute to do so.
James Trew / Engadget
Ayn did give the Odin its own launcher which sorta-kinda makes it feel more “consoley” and less like an Android tablet, but honestly the version it ships with is clean enough that you can just stick with that. Thankfully there’s almost no extra app cruft on the Odin out of the box and, despite being Android 10, there’s support for Project Treble which should help keep it feeling current for longer.
If your interest is mostly around the NES/SNES or Sega equivalents, you can simply install RetroArch and kick back. There’s nothing unusual here for those most favored or classical consoles so I’ll focus on the more advanced systems.
For many it’s the promise of portable PlayStation 2 and GameCube emulation that will be a lure here. The PS2 is notoriously tricky thanks to the console’s custom processor. But the emulation community is industrious if nothing else and there are some pretty good options now. I tested out some of my favorites from my physical collection, but obviously had to start with Rez, just to see how it looked on that display.
Sure enough, it looked pretty fab. My left thumb is way less nimble than it was 20 years ago but the Odin barely flinched at serving up the game. I may have heard a few minor, almost imperceptible glitches in the audio, but they were infrequent and possibly something that could be remedied in the emulator settings rather than the hardware.
This experience was pretty much the same with any other title I tried. I spent time taking Raiden out for a crawl in the rain in Metal Gear Solid 2. While over in GTA: San Andreas, CJ’s hopes of going straight were just as futile (complete with slightly wonky physics) as I remembered. Final Fantasy XII’s dramatic opening sequence ran as smooth as it ever did and Reks’ brave naivety was almost glitchless bar some light cracking on audio here and there.
James Trew / Engadget
With the GameCube you might reasonably expect a little more success given that historically it’s been easier to emulate. That does broadly seem to pan out. It might take a little fiddling around to get things optimized, but F-Zero GX can run at full speed and there are only a few games that are more performance hungry than that. You can also get some good results for Wii emulation here too but that will depend on a title’s use of Wiimotes among other things.
Of course, everything at this level is still some sort of crapshoot. Who knows how the game was programmed or how it used the hardware it was built for. There are already several videos on YouTube that dutifully go through a bunch of titles for all the systems to show how they run. There’s also a thriving subreddit that has spreadsheets dedicated to listing which games are (or aren’t) compatible and how well they perform on the Odin.
There are two areas where you don’t need to worry about compatibility: Android gaming and streaming services like Stadia and Game Pass. There’s not a lot to say here really other than the Odin was born to do it, so long as your internet can keep up. (WiFi performance is comparable to my phone, for what it’s worth.)
Some brave folks out there have even tried running 3DS and even Switch games all with varying degrees of success. Ultimately what you’re buying with the Odin is a bespoke gaming handheld that merely has the capability to run these apps, there’s no real promise of performance (or really control thereof).
James Trew / Engadget
But it does seem to have been particularly well designed. The active cooling seems to be a bit of a secret sauce, making sure you not only get the most out of the processor but for extended periods without any fear of damage. Some might wonder, why not simply get an old handset with similar specification and slap it in something like Razer’s Kishi. You definitely could do that, but the Odin’s cooling isn’t the only perk, its screen is bigger and 16:9 rather than superwide like a phone. Plus… it’s about not feeling like you have a phone in a clamp, that’s kinda the point.
It’s not a headline feature, but Ayn did see fit to offer two ways of playing the Odin on a TV/display. There’s a micro HDMI port on the top which is probably the simplest way to get your game on a bigger screen. I will say though that I didn’t have a great time with it as neither of my TVs have a great gaming mode, so latency was an issue. There is also DisplayPort connectivity via the USB-C connection.
If you really want to consolize the Odin, you can do so via a $50 “Super Dock” accessory. With this, you can slide the Odin into the mount much like a Switch and pick up where you left off on the bigger screen. Along with USB, there are also dedicated ports for both GameCube and N64 controllers should you have any of those lying around. It also adds in the option for ethernet and USB-C/SATA for things like SSDs (more modern games take up a lot more space after all).
Of course, given it’s running Android, you can do anything with the Odin that you can do with a phone or tablet. That means video streaming or music listening and even productivity. Though, logic might suggest that running things in the background or, heaven forbid, allowing notifications is only going to do bad things to your gaming experience. But you could.
